Russell Melvin Shoats

Russell Melvin Shoatz II (August 23, 1943 – December 17, 2021), also known as Maroon, was an American Black nationalist activist, writer, and convicted murderer. Shoatz was a founder of a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania group called the Black Unity Council and later a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. In 1973 he was convicted of the 1970 murder of Philadelphia police officer Frank Von Colln. He escaped from prison twice and was held in solitary confinement for more than 22 years. In the 2010s a lawsuit he filed to win release from solitary attracted international attention. PM Press published a collection of his prison writings in 2013. Suffering from advanced colorectal cancer, Shoatz was granted compassionate release in October 2021 and died less than two months later. His memoir, cowritten with Kanya D'Almeida, was published posthumously in 2024.

Early life and activism Shoatz grew up in Philadelphia, in a family of 13. His parents had come to Philadelphia from the South and he spent summers at his grandparents' farm in Georgia. Shoatz participated in the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., setting fire to White-owned businesses that he viewed as exploitative. who had just dispatched two officers to investigate Harrington's shooting, was ambushed and murdered in the Cobbs Creek guardhouse in West Philadelphia. In his memoir Shoatz writes that the guardhouse attack was carried out "at the behest of the leadership of the Black Panther Party.” After visiting the wounded officers in the hospital, Philadelphia police commissioner Frank Rizzo told reporters, "this is no longer a civilized neighborhood." Rizzo responded by raiding Panther party headquarters, arresting 15 people. Gunfire was exchanged during these raids, in which three police were injured by shotgun pellets, two superficially. These events took place less than a week before the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention organized by the Black Panthers at Temple University. In 1996 Von Colln's son Kurt Von Colln (19 at the time of the shooting) told reporters, "This completely changed my whole life. I never thought I could hate the way I did after this happened. I was the son of a man who loved everyone." He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Four other suspects were also charged, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in connection with the murder of Von Colln.

Incarceration Escape attempts Shoatz's son, Russell Shoatz III, advocated for his release from prison. Shoatz began serving his life sentence in 1973. In the early years of his sentence he converted to Sunni Islam, adopting the name Harun Abdul Ra'uf. Two of the inmates were quickly recaptured and a third was killed during the escape attempt. Two guards sustained minor injuries. Fearing that his food would be poisoned, he stopped eating anything other than commissary and vending machine food. For a time he was sedated with Thorazine until he began secretly spitting out his nightly dose. and called Philadelphia police officers and FBI agents as witnesses, seeking to establish himself as a political prisoner rather than a common criminal. On his return to prison he was placed in solitary confinement and shuffled between SCI Dallas, SCI Pittsburgh, Farview, and other facilities. eventually attracting attention from activists outside the prison and winning a return to general population. In May 2013 he filed a lawsuit against prison officials alleging that he was being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. The Abolitionist Law Center, a Pittsburgh nonprofit focused on ending mass incarceration, represented Shoatz in this suit, joined by pro bono representation from Reed Smith. Shoatz told the court that his isolation in solitary had led to severe mental health problems that persisted after his return to general population. Frank Von Colln's son Kurt Von Colln called the settlement "completely ridiculous," adding, "This guy is in there for killing a police officer and he's not been a model prisoner." Shoatz died less than two months later, on December 17, at the age of 78. He expressed regret for his part in Von Colln's murder near the end of his life. The book was edited by Quincy Saul and Fred Ho (who Shoatz credited as an influence on his thinking), and included a foreword by Chuck D. In 2021 a conversation between Shoatz and his son Russell Shoatz III appeared in the essay collection Abolition for the People, edited by Colin Kaepernick and published by Kaepernick Publishing.

Shoatz's memoir, I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner, cowritten with Kanya D'Almeida, was posthumously published in 2024. D'Almeida first met Shoatz (introduced by Ho) in 2013 and the two worked together until his death. A review in Publishers Weekly concluded: "Shoatz is an impassioned and endearing narrator, clear-eyed about his mistakes even as he pushes back on his treatment by Pennsylvania prosecutors. Not every reader will be swayed by his worldview, but those interested in the Panthers and their legacy would do well to check this out."

Books Shoatz, Russell Maroon; Ho, Fred (ed.); Saul, Quincy (ed.); Chuck D; Meyer, Matt; Madlala-Routledge, Nozizwe (2013). Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon Shoatz. PM Press. Shoatz, Russell; D'Almeida, Kanya (2024). I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner. Bold Type Books. .